Never Let Me Go
by FairyChild11
Summary: Orihime Saves Ulquiorra from a Hollowed Ichigo, and gets injured in the process...


**She shuddered as she saw Ichigo Kurosaki's advanced Hollow form cut Ulquiorra down before ramming his head into the ground with its foot, preparing its cero. **

"**Inoue-san…?"**

**Glancing to her right, she realized that she had risen to her feet, and Uryu Ishida was staring at her in amazement. Summoning her fairies, she ran towards the man who she had once promised five lifetimes to, and the one who now held her heart in his hands.**

"**Souten-kesshun!" she cried. "I reject!"**

**Orihime rammed her body into the bloodthirsty hollow, knocking it to the ground just in time the deadly orb of red light was released, shooting into the sky. **

**She rolled onto her side, and sat up. For a long moment, her eyes met Ulquiorra's stunned ones before she turned to her fairies who were hovering by.**

"**Please save him!" she begged them, sighing with relief as a dome of familiar gold light formed around Ulquiorra, and his injuries were healed.**

**But the relief was short lived.**

**She yelped as she felt herself yanked painfully by her hair to her feet, and found herself staring into and enraged pair of yellow and black eyes before a numb, sickening pain rammed into her abdomen, and a red hot pain hurled her through the air.**

**She fell.**

**Time seemed to slow as she felt her body coming closer to the earth, and wondered how long it would be…**

**A sudden chill in the air, followed by the glimpse of a dark figure filled her rapidly fading vision before an arm wound itself around her shoulders, while another curled under her knees, and the sudden jolt of something hitting her side brought her back to reality. She felt herself being lifted into the air, and opened her eyes to see Ulquiorra carrying her through the night, away from the scene of his battle with Ichigo Kurosaki. Glancing over his shoulder, she saw the beast standing deathly still, one of its horns slashed off before the faint sound of shattering glass filled the air, revealing the pale face of Ichigo Kurosaki before he fell to the ground, facedown.**

**Turning her eyes away from the scene, she leaned closer to Ulquiorra, and closed her eyes, taking comfort in his familiar scent of cold and shadows.**

**He tightened his arms around her as he felt her go limp in his arms, holding her close.**

_The hollow was white, while the others were dark, therefore, he was shunned by them. _

_She stood in the dark pit, watching as they began to close in on him, her heart breaking for the lonely creature that had no place in neither her world, nor what should have been his._

_Why? she wondered. Why did it have to be like this?_

_Why was she here?_

_Suddenly, a bright green light engulfed the tiny space, the blast obliterating the hollows that had been about to devour the albino. The force of the attack forced her to cover her eyes with her hands, her hair and skirt fluttering behind her. _

_When the glare died down, and she opened her eyes, she was no longer in the pit, but in the desert, the vast space empty, and lonely. The wind howled around her, the sand scattering around her ankles. _

_The hollow was trudging through the lonely expanse of land, blood dripping from its clawed hands. _

_Alone._

_Now that she could see him better, she couldn't help but feel a flicker of recognition stir in her as she watched him._

_Those green tear streaks. _

_Those eyes..._

_Her heart stopped._

_Ulquiorra...?_

_She opened her mouth to call him, but a sudden gust of wind caused the sands to shift and swirl, almost blinding her._

_"Ulquiorra!"_

_He was there, but he didn't hear her. Calling his name, she ran to him as he neared the crystal like tree that had seemed to get his attention._

_As close as she wanted to be to him, she felt like she was still a million miles away..._

_He sank into the tree, the sound of his mask shattering muted by the howling wind._

_She finally reached him as he lay among the bed of thorns, his eyes vacant._

_Somehow, the sharp limbs didn't harm her as she passed through them to get to him; she felt like a ghost._

_She wept as she knelt beside him, understanding why he'd had such a hard time comprehending the heart, and why he never believed in what his eyes couldn't see._

_"Oh, Ulquiorra..."_

_Bending down, she cupped his face between her palms, and kissed those beautiful, mysterious eyes, her heart full of sorrow for him, wishing she could have known him then so he wouldn't be so alone..._

**A dull, yet numb, burning pain woke her some time later, although she didn't know how long she'd been out.**

**Ulquiorra was laying her down gently, his touch belying his frightening appearance. The sand felt cool against her back. His gold-green eyes moved over her wounded, broken body before coming to rest on her face, widening slightly when he saw that she was awake. **

**Orihime wanted to touch his face, but even the tiniest movement sent waves of burning agony through her.**

"**You foolish girl," he admonished. "That was a very reckless thing to do."**

**She wasn't sorry, she wanted to tell him. She'd already lost him because of Aizen, and she didn't want to lose him again, even if he was an enemy in the eyes of her friends.**

**She didn't want to lose him because she loved him.**

**All of this, she wanted to tell him, but she couldn't. She was tired, so tired. She could feel her heart slowing as it tried to pump more blood into her body to compensate for what she had lost and was still losing, and she knew she was losing the fight.**

**Orihime hadn't realized that she'd been crying until Ulquiorra touched her face, wiping away her tears with his thumb. Opening her eyes, she saw that his face was very close to hers, his hard expression from moments before gone; he was now gazing at her with a soft look in his eyes.**

"**Hush now," he coaxed. "You couldn't escape me even if you tried. I will never let you go – not now that I have your heart here in my hands, not ever."**

**Pillowing her head on his lap, he cupped his hands together, summoning a ball of bright green light that she recognized through her veil of rapidly dimming vision as his reiatsu. Before she could even try to ask him what he was going to do, he gently merged the green light into the wound in her abdomen, and she gasped with surprise when she saw and felt her wounds lap the energy up, healing almost instantly. It was like a breath of fresh air after almost drowning, and she felt her strength coming back.**

**Ulquiorra held her the whole time, never relinquishing his hold – or her eyes - as his power did its work. She sighed with relief as the last of the green light faded away, leaving her completely healed in her tattered dress.**

**She looked up as Ulquiorra touched her face, his clawed fingers surprisingly gentle. Gathering her closer to him, he kissed her tenderly, and her hand cupped his face as she returned the gesture.**

" **I told you I would never let you go…"**


End file.
